I am a feminist.

I don't feel like that statement needs justification or explanation. Unfortunately, however, there are people who feel the need to tarnish the name of women's equality while promoting their own non-feminist agenda. And so, I will explain.

I am a feminist.

I am an active member of the world we live in; a world in which non-men remain at a political, economic, social, and professional disadvantage to men.

I am a feminist.

I am well aware of the facts. I know that 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted in college. I know that 99% of sexual offenders will walk away with no consequences and that the people who have assaulted before are far more likely to do it again.

I am a feminist.

When I walk into a room full of men, my heart beats faster. It's not sweet or romantic— it comes from a culturally-instilled fear, a fight-or-flight response that helps me identify the nearest exit and the heaviest object in my bag I could use if someone tried to hurt me.

I am a feminist.

When I'm walking down the street, my eyes are constantly scanning, looking over my shoulder, paying attention to the people around me. I have apps installed on my phone just in case something happens.

I am a feminist.

I have learned never to leave my friends behind at a frat party, to always share our locations, to take claims of "I only took one shot, I shouldn't be this drunk" incredibly seriously.

I am a feminist.

I have developed a secret code with women, friends and strangers alike, for when we are in dangerous situations. When a guy sticks his hand down my friend's pants at a rave, and when I see a girl I didn't know passed out drunk and naked on the bathroom floor at a party, I know that it's on me to help them. I know the potential consequences of leaving them to fend for themselves.

I am a feminist.

I am so sick of being told not to dress a certain way or drink a certain thing or walk in a certain neighborhood at night, as if the violent hyper-masculinity ingrained in a potential assailant is somehow my fault. It's not. It never was. It never will be.

I am a feminist.

I am one of the millions and millions of #MeToo stories that have emerged in the last few months, one of the innumerable victims of a crime against my own humanity. It took me months to realize that my experience wasn't normal, that what happened that night was unacceptable. My own lack of understanding kept me silent for far too long.

I am a feminist.

I grew up in an environment which taught me that people who fought for women's rights were just baby-killing man-haters, one in which choosing to have sex if you were a woman was treated as an action equal to that of a man raping someone. This couldn't be further from the truth, and I don't want any more young people to be force-fed this narrative.

I am a feminist.

I do not get dressed or shave or do my makeup or smile or walk or live or breathe for anyone except for myself. I am no one's property, no one's babe, and I refuse to be treated as such.

I am a feminist.

I am not restricted to certain fields of study or work based on my gender. I am just as capable of succeeding in a male-dominated field as a man is. I deserve to be treated as an equal counterpart and I deserve to be compensated equally.

I am a feminist.

I will have children if and when I choose to. No person, no government, and no religion get any say in my personal medical decision-making. Full stop.

I am a feminist.

At the end of the day, I know that I am privileged, that living in this culture has afforded me advantages that women all over the world do not have. I know that there are women being killed for trying to go to school, being married off as children, having their genitals mutilated, and serving a life sentence for the only crime they've ever committed: being born female.

I am a feminist.

I do not hate men. I do not want men to be oppressed. I do not believe that the solution to these problems is to force men to live with the consequences. I know that there is a way for us to work together to empower women, to encourage true equality, in which no gender has this much power over the other ever again. Feminism does not promote that women should dominate men but, rather, that we should be equal counterparts in all aspects of life.

I am a feminist.

I always will be. While there are extremists who give feminism a bad reputation and tarnish its name, feminism, at its core, advocates for justice and equality. It works to address problems that affect people of every gender, including men.

I am a feminist.

I will advocate for equality even when it isn't to my advantage as a woman. I will advocate for the rights of a father to have custody of his child, for a woman to serve equal time for a crime as a man would, for women filing false accusations of assault to be punished, for sexual perpetrators to suffer the consequences of their actions, no matter what side of the political aisle they align with.

I am a feminist. Why aren't you?